A small word on contractor integrity

You know what makes me SICK, in Arizona with regard to the HVAC field? Greedy, sneaky, money grubbing, commissioned payed employee, HVAC contractors.

I've known and worked around this mentality for years on how the HVAC residential contractor industry runs itself.

The gimmick laden advertisements.....
The Cartoon animals......
The guy smiley technician......
The call for alarm and we are your hero types.....

Its all a facade...

These companies, get you with a $69 service fee, a $29 tune up, FREE this and Free that...
But, the entire objective is to get into your home, perform that cheap or free service and then... Surprise you with 1-5 items that you NEED. The techs they send your way are low hourly or low salary rate techs, these are salesmen in disguise in most cases.

They come to your house to install a free product, a free or cheap AC inspection and then throw a $200 capacitor BILL your way, a $500 service plan that offers repair or replacement discounts... Come on.... And the consumer falls for it!!!!

Truth be, the designers of these methods are advertising firms that over the years have passed down this in home sales routine to some really slick service managers that want to justify their jobs and their technicians jobs. All at your expense.. Its greed, plain and simple..

I'm all about people in my business making money, we should be making money for the services we provide, its a skill and a profession. That is why we are in the business, just like everyone else, to make money.

There comes a moral point in time when one must ask themselves " Is it worth my soul for greed?"
I'm not saying all HVAC companies are a rip off but, MOST are and I don't care for one second who disagrees with me on this or what they think of me. Call it exposure. I hope every single one of these greedy owners, partners and service managers get to READ this.

Be honest, you rotten pigs!!! GOD will punish you HARD when you die. Quit paying technicians $15 an hour and promising bonus's for items sold. We are a service industry, not sleazy car dealers. It's like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey.  If you do a good job and your new or old customer likes you guess what? They'll call you back when they need you. Grow some morals and standards and quit STEALING from customers. That very well could be my mother or father, brother or sister out there. Better yet, its a fellow human being, one of gods creatures!! It's not nice and its morally wrong.

What can I tell a customer out there hiring an HVAC contractor or evaluating their current HVAC contractor?

-Ask for cost on a specific repair or request and see what they tell you. These dispatchers are taught to never give you a price on 99% of quote requests. If their honest, they let you know somehow a general idea of cost or that they just don't really know the answer.

A decent company will try and spend a few minutes with you on the phone trying to get an idea of your problem.

-Ask the tech who just came over if he works on commissions.
-Ask the tech what he makes an hour, be nosy, why not your paying for the service.
-Ask the tech what he is doing, what things mean, open your phone and do some research on what hes telling you.
-Ask for a second opinion on things your concerned with. Don't be in a rush, especially when everything is working fine.
-DON'T ever sign up for a service plan. Half these companies wont even hose off your AC coil. They are just there to get your money!!! You can get a service once a year at a decent cost, why pay some massive fee to be a "preferred customer". All customers are important.

All my employees are paid a nice fat Wage, they are vetted and loyal. They gain NOTHING financially from ME for recommending products or taking care of services. Maybe joe shmoe's ac company in phoenix will try to do the same, they'll get more honest techs.

What has driven me write this? I saw an estimate for two new heat pump systems last week... $31,000 regular price for two CRAPPY Goodman, 14 seer, 4 ton heat pumps. New air handlers, same crappy seer rating. with discounts, $20,000 something dollars was the final price. A nice long drawn out fakedown (Breakdown of costs) of estimate.

Here was a line item I saw... $750 for a secondary drain pan, to replace a 10 year old drain pan that had nothing but surface dust inside of it.

The Tech/sales guy told this customer, since his system went bad, he needs to replace the other because the bad one, has weakened the working one. Nice way to try and take advantage.

Thankfully, the laymen who showed me the estimate did so. I saved him more than $10,000 and have him with much upgraded Trane equipment. I'm actually going to follow up with the actual estimate next week on here.

Here is another, I was at a customers house last week providing some NEST services. I noticed a certain gimmick riddled slime ball AC company had installed their thermostats so, I inquired. I asked the customer who installed their NEST's They told me, and then I asked... " Did they happen to install them for free and sell you a capacitor? LOW and behold, they did install for free and sell them a capacitor as well as some crazy expensive service agreement.... That company will never get called again from this customer but, I sure will......

It's late..... Til net time folks. Don't fall for the gimmicks.